


Not Forgiven, Not Forgotten

by BunniesofDoom



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, Caretaking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Injuries, Spoilers: Volume 8 (RWBY), Team as Family, Volume 8 (RWBY), feral ruby rights, healthy communication is my kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-19 10:20:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29749023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BunniesofDoom/pseuds/BunniesofDoom
Summary: Ruby hasn't forgotten that Emerald was the one responsible for Penny's death.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna & Ruby Rose & Weiss Schnee & Yang Xiao Long, Penny Polendina & Ruby Rose, Ruby Rose & Emerald Sustrai, Ruby Rose & Yang Xiao Long
Comments: 3
Kudos: 48





	Not Forgiven, Not Forgotten

**Author's Note:**

> Anyone else walking on air after today's episode? That Ruby and Yang hug added ten years to my lifespan. This is set directly after the events of volume 8 episode 10, so spoilers ahead. It was inspired by my desire to see more of feral Ruby vs Emerald and some discussion with silverrstardust, who is an excellent writer that you should definitely check out.

This reunion feels long overdue. Although Yang has only been separated from the rest of her team for a couple of days, it feels like it's been ages since they've seen each other. They chat amongst themselves in a side hallway while Jaune, Ren, and Oscar fuss over Nora and insist that she get back upstairs and lay down already.

"It's really good to be back with you guys," Yang says, voice uncharacteristically soft as she looks at her team. "I know it hasn't been that long, but I really missed you three."

"We really missed you too!" Ruby chirps, smiling brightly for the first time in days. There are still dark circles under her eyes, and her face is still pale, but she looks better than she has since they all split up. She looks down quickly, biting her lip and scuffing her foot against the floor. "And I'm really sorry for what I said earlier, before we split up."

"It's okay," Yang reassures her. She tilts Ruby's chin up until their eyes meet. "If anything, I should be the one apologizing to you. I was stressed and scared and tired and I took it out on you instead of dealing with it myself, and I'm sorry I did that. I shouldn't have said any of those things."

"But you were right," Ruby says quietly, averting her eyes again. "All I've been doing is leading us into disaster lately. I haven't been a good leader at all."

Yang places a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "C'mon, Rubes, you know that's not true. Things have been—difficult, lately, but it's not your fault. You're coping with things the best you can."

"I guess," Ruby says reluctantly. She doesn't sound very convinced. Yang frowns, but she decides to drop it for now. Ruby can be stubborn about stuff like this, and unfortunately, they only have so much time before they'll have to regroup and come up with a plan. She makes a mental note to discuss it with her sister later. They definitely need to have a talk.

"So anyway, what all happened while I was gone?" Yang asks. Ruby looks immensely relieved at the change in subject. "I mean, Nora's in pretty rough shape. How'd that happen? Not that I'm blaming you, of course. I just want to know." Yang adds that last part hastily, seeing Ruby's face fall at the mention of whatever happened to Nora.

"We used the dust tubes to get into an Atlas base to retrieve the launch codes for Amity," Weiss says, fidgeting nervously with her dress. "And well, we succeeded in getting the code, but before we could leave, we uh—"

"We ran into the Ace Ops," Blake cuts her off. "They were there to retrieve Penny. We ended up getting separated from her when she was fighting them. And Nora, well," she pauses to take a deep breath. "She used the electricity from the door to charge up her semblance and bust through, but it was too much electricity for her to take."

"She collapsed, and so we brought her back here to recover," Ruby says, her voice small. "She's doing better now that Klein has seen her, but the scars—they're bad, Yang."

Her sister sounds so small and sad and scared that it makes Yang's heart ache. She wraps an arm around Ruby's shoulders in a slightly awkward half-hug. "Well, you said that Nora's doing better now, right? And she's strong. She'll probably be okay."

"I hope so." Ruby sighs, wiping hastily at her eyes. "It's just been a lot lately, you know? We sent Penny off to Amity to do the broadcast, and I thought she'd be safe, especially since it went out, but then it cut out suddenly and then she crashed in front of the manor, and now she's acting weird. I just don't know how much more I can take."

The other girls exchange worried looks, clearly concerned at that last part, but before they can say anything—

"Wait, Penny is here?" Emerald asks quietly. Her voice makes them all jump and whip around to look at her. She's been so quiet that they'd all practically forgotten that she was there.

"Yes," Ruby replies, frowning, her eyes narrowed slightly. "She arrived here a few hours ago." She gives Emerald a suspicious stare. "Why do you sound so surprised by that?"

"Oh, it's nothing really." Emerald tries to wave her off. She looks like she regrets speaking up. "I just didn't expect her to have made it here already since the last time I saw her."

"Since the last time you saw her?" Ruby tilts her head slightly, her frown deepening. "When did you see her last? Wait—those burns—don't tell me." Emerald takes a step back, shaking her head. "You went with Cinder to Amity to try to take the power of the Winter Maiden, didn't you." It's not a question. Emerald doesn't say anything in response, just swallows hard.

There's a cold fury burning in Ruby's eyes. "What, it wasn't enough that you helped Cinder kill her last time? You had to try and help Cinder kill her again? What is wrong with you? And you're expecting us to trust you?"

"Wait, help Cinder kill Penny again?" Weiss asks quietly, sounding confused.

"Maybe we should calm down and try to talk about this," Blake says, trying to ease the obvious tension before things get any worse.

Ruby ignores them. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" she demands, stepping towards Emerald, who immediately starts to back away from her.

"I—it's complicated, okay?" Emerald stutters, her face pale and frightened. "Look, I'm sorry, alright?"

The apology apparently isn't good enough. With a screech of fury, Ruby lunges at Emerald and knocks her to the ground, her eyes wild. She seems to forget that she has a weapon, instead opting to punch every inch of Emerald that she can reach as she continues to scream in rage. Emerald seems too shocked by the sudden attack to try to fight back properly, instead opting to try to shield her face and try to wriggle out from under Ruby and escape.

She's also probably reluctant to rock the boat too much after admitting to having helped Cinder go after Penny.

Weiss, Blake, and Weiss are similarly stunned into inaction, but eventually they jump in to try to separate the two girls. "Hey, Ruby, let's try to calm down for a second," Yang says, grabbing one of Ruby's arms and attempting to haul her off a cowering Emerald. Despite being low on aura, Ruby only takes a second to yank her arm free and resume hitting Emerald. "Hey! Listen to me!"

A rope whips through the air as Blake aims Gambol Shroud at one of Ruby's legs, trying to tangle her up and distract her from her current target. Ruby just grunts in frustration and once again, manages to yank herself free and return to her rampaging. "What should we do?" she calls to Weiss.

Weiss frowns in concentration, using her sword to summon a massive ice glyph and causing a wall of ice to creep up Ruby's leg. Ruby scowls but remains unfazed, kicking her legs frantically to break up the ice as she continues her frenzied assault.

"That's enough, Ruby!" Yang shouts, striding forward and wrapping her arms firmly around her sister waist, hauling her sister back bodily away from Emerald. Ruby squirms and kicks and punches and flails around frantically but Yang's hold doesn't waver. "You two need to break it up, now!"

In the commotion, they missed the others returning. "What is going on?" Jaune asks, staring at the scene in front of him in disbelief. "We were gone for like five minutes, what happened?"

"It's a long story," Yang grunts, still holding onto Ruby. "Can you guys take care of Emerald? We need to have a talk."

She doesn't wait for a response, just turns around and marches out of the room, followed by Weiss and Blake. Emerald sits on the floor where they left her, shell-shocked, bringing one hand up to examine the bruise forming around her left eye.

They end up in the manor's enormous kitchen. Yang deposits Ruby in a chair at the oversized table. "Stay put," she tells her sister sternly. Ruby slumps back in her seat wordlessly. The other girls eye her warily, but the wild look is gone from their leader's eyes, leaving her instead looking exhausted and drained. Blake steps over to the sink and wets a couple of towels.

Ruby sighs loudly, wincing in pain as the action jars her ribs. "Sorry about that," she mumbles, voice hoarse from screaming.

"It's—well, I'm not going to say that it's okay, because it's really not," Weiss replies quietly. "But it is understandable. We're all a bit on edge." She raises one hand, a small ice glyph forming in her palm. "But you really should be more careful. Your ribs aren't going to heal and your aura isn't going to recover if you keep doing stuff like this."

"Sorry," Ruby mutters. She yelps slightly when Weiss presses her cold hand against her side, but then sighs in relief when the pain immediately eases.

"Here." Blake has returned with two wet towels. She pressures one into Ruby's hand and gestures for her to bring it up to her face. There's a slow trickle of blood coming from her nose from when one of Emerald's flailing arms caught her in the face. With that taken care of, Blake takes Ruby's other hand in her own and uses the cloth to gently clean the scrapes on her knuckles. "You really need to be more careful," she murmurs quietly. "We almost lost you earlier. I can't go through that again."

"I'm sorry," Ruby whispers, staring down at her lap.

"Wait, what?" Yang demands. "What are you talking about?"

"It's a long story," Weiss says. "We can tell you about that later. Right now, I think we have more important issues to discuss."

"Right." Yang sighs heavily, blowing her bangs out of her face. "So, what was that all about?"

Blake gestures for Ruby to switch hands. "Yeah, what did you mean by Emerald was helping Cinder to try to kill Penny again?"

"Well, um—" Ruby pauses, clearing her throat. "During the tournament, right before the Fall of Beacon, she, uh—" She cuts herself off. The other girls are startled to see tears shining in her eyes.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Yang tries to soothe her. She wraps her arms around Ruby, trying to avoid putting pressure on her injured ribs. The younger girl relaxes slightly at the gesture, leaning into her sister's warmth. "None of us are mad at you, I promise. Just tell us what happened."

"Right." Ruby takes a deep breath to brace herself, closing her eyes tightly. She turns her face into Yang's shoulder, as if trying to hide her expression. "Well, right before Pyrrha's match, I spotted Emerald in the stands, and since she and Mercury were supposed to have left for Haven, I wanted to go and talk to her, see what was going on."

Her voice is slightly muffled by Yang's shirt. Blake sets her towel down on the table, listening intently.

"I saw Mercury when I was trying to go talk to Emerald, and then I heard them announce that Pyrrha would be fighting Penny, and then I got really worried, because I knew that Pyrrha's semblance would be a bad combination against Penny, so I went to warn them, but then Mercury wouldn't let me past, and by the time I got there I was too late." The last few words tumble out in a rush. "Penny was dead. I know that Emerald was there to create an illusion so that Pyrrha would kill Penny. And I'm supposed to just forgive her for that?"

"Of course not," Weiss assures her, squeezing her hand. "But we have to—"

"That's not all she's done," Ruby interrupts her. "She also was the one who made it seem like Mercury was attacking you, and she got you in trouble in front of all those people. And she attacked us at Haven Academy. And just last night she went with Cinder to try to kill Penny again. And I'm supposed to just forget all that and trust her?" She's breathing heavily when she finishes her rant.

"Of course not," Weiss says immediately. "Nobody expects that of you."

Blake nods in agreement. "We're not asking you to forgive Emerald."

"But," Yang bites her lip. "She's fighting against Salem just like the rest of us. She stood up to Salem and helped us escape with Oscar. You don't have to trust her, or even like her, but just give her a chance to fight on our side, okay? If she steps out of line at all, we'll happily let you at her again."

"Yeah. Okay," Ruby agrees reluctantly. She still doesn't sound happy about the idea. "I guess I'll give her a chance for now."

"Good." Yang smiles brightly at her sister. "I know it's hard, but we have to try."

"You know you can talk to us about anything, Ruby," Blake says quietly. "I wish you would tell us about these things sooner, and not keep them bottled up for so long."

Ruby smiles weakly at her, scrubbing hastily at her eyes. "I know. Thanks, Blake."

When they rejoin the others, Emerald looks much less the worse for wear. Jaune must have used his semblance on her. Her eyes go wide when she sees that Ruby has returned. Ruby clears her throat, and Emerald flinches.

"Right. Well. I'm sorry about earlier," Ruby begins, not sounding terribly enthused about having to apologize. "And I'm willing to work with you for now, despite everything. But," she pauses for dramatic effect, her voice going cold. "If you even think about betraying us, or harming any of my friends, I will make you regret it. That's a promise."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment and leave kudos if you liked it.
> 
> Just a reminder that I do take requests for fics, so if there's an idea that you'd like to see me write, feel free to message me and if I like it, I might end up writing something for it. Also, if you like one of my ideas and want to write your own fic for it, feel free! I'm not possessive with my ideas, and most of my writing is self-indulgent anyway, so all that I ask is that you let me know so I can read it.


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